Review of The Running Man (1987) by Stuart M — 13 Apr 2013

2017: After the economic collapse world goverments become corrupted leading to a dystopian future. Wait, I didn't realize this was a documentary.

The movie begins with everyone's favorite technique: the rolling scroll of text. But this one is special. Not only does this one tell us what's happening, it also tells us they're wrong to do it. Thanks guys for telling me how to feel. I might've gotten confused otherwise. It's probably a time-saving measure. This way they can give Arnie an immediate crisis of conscience without bothering to establish things like character or plot first. The funny thing is that they'd have been better off leaving that out and making his background a little more mysterious. Arnie's acting like an ass through most of the film so it would have fit.

I was quite impressed with Arnie's range in this film. He managed to grow a beard for one scene, and in another he was sporting a moustache. Very impressive. Oh, dude. That guy's head exploded. Cool!

Overall it was a pretty fun film. Arnold chews the scenery like always. And the satirical elements were fun. The only problem here is that the action setpieces are generally underwhelming. There is one fun stalker dressed like a christmas tree centurion who shoots electricity and sings opera. The rest are pretty dull, and the whole film being shot in twilight makes it worse. Apart from the aforementioned electric centurion and a guy with a purple flamethrower they don't really take advantage of that.

Oh, and the suits are just silly.